Paying it forward

Bianca Accomando gives back as a mentor to Killeen’s youth

Story by Stacy Moser
Photo by Becky Stinehour

A teller ushers me into the warm-hued, sleekly furnished office of Bianca Accomando, branch manager of A+ Federal Credit Union in Harker Heights. Bianca comes from behind her desk to shake my hand firmly, greeting me with a welcoming smile.

She’s not quite what I expected from someone so young. After chatting for a few minutes, I’m impressed by her confident, relaxed demeanor, even as she confesses that she’s a little anxious about being interviewed for a magazine profile. It’s clear she’s comfortable in her role as the leader in the branch, though, and our conversation turns to talk of her career track and what it took for her success.

“I wouldn’t have been a good branch manager five years ago,” Bianca, 38, said. “It took me a lot of time to get to this point and lead this team.”
She said her drive to succeed stems from her competitive nature. “I was a sports kid growing up — soccer, softball, volleyball, track.” When the older kids at school learned new skills inside or outside the classroom, she followed suit. “In high school, my close friends were already in choir and, being so competitive, I naturally joined the choir, too!”

She majored in music at Louisiana State University but eventually became disenchanted with the traditional structure of academia.

At the beginning of her junior year, she enrolled in an internship offered by The Walt Disney World College Program at Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida. “That’s probably the best program I’ve ever participated in,” she said. “I was that kind of kid, though — when I arrived, I said, ‘I’m not just going to serve ice cream or sodas. I’m going to learn something. If I’m not learning, I’m just cheap labor.’”

Bianca reveled in her work at the resort, absorbing every detail about its daily operations. “After I shadowed a restaurant manager for a week, I went to his boss, the park manager, and asked, ‘What do you do all day long?’” she said, laughing. “I pestered him until he let me follow him around, too.”

She says the semester-long program gave her time to evaluate what she wanted to do with her life. “I realized that I hated school and I was even starting to hate music,” she said. “I needed to pursue something that energized me.” She instinctively knew that a college diploma wasn’t likely to be the key to her future.

An Austin native, Bianca returned there to live with her older sister, Angela. “Even now, I see my parents, who live in Georgetown, at least once a week. From their doorstep to my doorstep is 37 minutes,” she said. “I don’t ever want to be far from my family. They’re the best people on the planet.”

Bianca landed a job at a popular restaurant and, with her characteristic determination, set her sights on the job of manager, working her way up the ladder until she became the lead employee trainer. “They wouldn’t promote me to manager, even though I’d been there for years. They were very hesitant because I hadn’t finished college. It was really frustrating.”

A friend of a friend hired Bianca to work as a teller at Bank of America in Cedar Park. “One reason I got the job is that he was German and I speak German fluently,” she said. “I’m actually a first-generation American. My mother was raised in Germany and my dad in Italy. As a kid, I always knew I had gotten into trouble when my mom would scold me in German!”

Bianca learned the business from the ground up, achieving the job of senior teller quickly. When an opening for an assistant branch manager at A+ Federal Credit Union became available in Bee Cave, Bianca made the leap. The company moved her to their new branch in Harker Heights in 2016 — a move she felt was meant to be. “I moved here on my birthday — the same day that my church, REACH Church, opened here, too. The next day, I started at the new branch of A+. How all that came together so well was definitely a sign from above.”

Bianca did not know anyone in Bell County when she made the move. She enrolled in Leadership Killeen, a training program run by the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce, where she rubbed elbows with some of the city’s best and brightest. And through her work at the credit union, Bianca experienced the powerful influence of two mentors.

“[Cedar Park Branch Manager] Crystal Smith and [Area Vice President] Donna Raden were my biggest cheerleaders,” Bianca recalls. “They were really in my corner, cheering me on, saying ‘You can do this!’ They constructively criticize in such a kind way, I don’t take offense. I learn and grow from it.”

When asked what specific things her mentors advised her to address, Bianca laughs. “My face. I’m an expressive person. I had to really be cognizant of what my face looked like when I talked to people. I would roll my eyes or purse my lips — I could come off as negative and that wasn’t the message I wanted to send. It was a struggle for me. I was so used to being in a restaurant environment. The way you communicate there is very different than how you talk to people in the banking world.

“I’ve learned that managing people is hard,” Bianca folds her arms and leans across the desk toward me to emphasize her point. “It’s really about coaching. I’ve learned how to adapt to other people — they shouldn’t have to adapt to me. I had to change my coaching style for each employee’s needs. I’ve got a lot of young people on my team and their potential is so great.”

She said she feels good about her work’s purpose at A+. “Here, in credit-union land, it’s all about educating customers and helping them achieve financial success. It’s not a high-pressure sales situation.”

Bianca makes a difference in the Killeen and Harker Heights communities too. She was recently named president of Greater Killeen Young Professionals, where she focuses on attracting young people seeking mentors and business connections.

“Our luncheons, for example, were always at the same location and had the same type of speaker every month,” she said. “There were only nine people showing up. I said, ‘This is Killeen — do you know how many young people are here? We can do better than this.’ Now we change our locations and the types of speakers and our ‘Lunch and Learns’ are really well attended.”

Bianca is also on the board of the KISD Education Foundation, Killeen Police Department LEAF (Law Enforcement Assistance Fund) and she participates with the Harker Heights and Greater Killeen Chambers of Commerce.

“For me, it’s the people who make Killeen unique — they are from all over the world. There’s a small-town feel, but it’s not really a small town. It’s growing and I’m excited to see what happens.”

Making the Trek to Africa

Through a program sponsored by REACH church, Accomando traveled to Tanzania, Madagascar and Zambia on missions recently.

“The trips changed my life,” she said. “Their healing and salvation ministry made such an impact on me. I realized life isn’t all about me. My heart breaks for people who are less fortunate than me. It made me look at things a little bit differently. I wanted to stay there forever.”